How-to-Use-Twitter-for-Marketing-PR.

Twitter is a tool for "micro-blogging" or posting very short updates, comments or thoughts.  In fact, since Twitter was designed to be very compatible with mobile phones through text messages, each update is limited to 140 characters.  Truly, a micro-blog.  Another way to think of Twitter is like a cross between instant messaging (IM) and a chat room, because it is an open forum, but you restrict it to the people with which you connect.

I have to admit I have not always been sold on Twitter.  At first I did not get it at all.  Then I thought I understood it, but thought it was stupid and useless.  Then I used it a bit more and got some more followers and followed a few more people.  Now I think it has some value, especially as a marketing and PR tool.

Ideas for How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR

1. Engage your CEO in social media.  Social media is a great way to have a conversation with your market and make and mange connections with prospects, customers, bloggers and other influencers.  But for a CEO, the typical routes to social media can be hard.  Especially if you are a larger or global company.  A CEO typically has little time to write a blog or answer lots of messages and friend requests on Facebook.  I cannot tell you how many CEO blogs I have seen with only 1 or 2 posts because the CEO never had time to update the blog after the first couple entries.  But, Twitter is limited to 140 characters per update, so it is all about short thoughts and comments.  If your CEO can send a text message, they can use Twitter from anywhere in the world as a marketing and PR tool.  Twitter is actually perfect for CEO or founder who is always on the road meeting with people and who has some interesting opinions on your market.
2. Keep in touch with bloggers / media.  It is really easy to follow someone on Twitter (see below). And you'll be surprised how often they decide to follow you as well.  In fact, I have lots of people I consider "famous" in the marketing and PR worlds following me.  In my opinion, this is a way easier way to connect with influential people in the media than calling and emailing them.
3. Monitor your company / brand on Twitter.  A while back we noticed that Guy Kawasaki mentioned Website Grader on Twitter.  Well, of course we had to let him know a bit more about Website Grader and maybe ask if he would also blog about it?  The result was this blog article on Website Grader which drove a good amount of traffic and leads.  (See below for a cool tip on how to easily monitor people talking about your company on Twitter.)
4. Announce specials, deals or sales.  If you are a retailer or anyone who often has special offers, you can use Twitter to announce these deals instantly to a large audience.  You know those commercials from Southwest Airlines about that "Ding" application you could download and would then alert you about specials on flights?  Well, Twitter can be used as a kind of free version of that.  Dell and Woot have done just this type of marketing, with a lot of success.
5. Live updates on events or conferences.  If you participate in a large trade show or run your own corporate event, you can use Twitter to announce last minute changes, cool events that are happening ("Just announced, David Meerman Scott book signing in the exhibit hall until 11am") and more.  It is a great last minute marketing tool.
6. Promote blog articles, webinars, interesting news and more.  Its really easy to post a link to something in Twitter, and I often post links to blog articles on this blog, or other news articles relevant to HubSpot.  A good idea is to post articles on other websites that are relevant to your business, like a customer success story or other PR coverage.  If you have other content that is appealing to your audience like a free webinar, post links to those too.

For example, here's a recent report that we posted on Twitter to promote Marketing Transformation Week:

Why Twitter's "Information Network" Strategy Is Under Pressure From Facebook & Google Plus

"We're not a social network, we're an information network." That's what Twitter's vice president of engineering, Michael Abbott, told the crowd atMobilize 2011 this week. That isn't new branding, Twitter has beendenying it's a social network since at least a year ago. It all dates back to November 2009, when Twitter changed the question it asked users for status updates from "What are you doing?" to "What's happening?".

The trouble is, Twitter's main rivals Facebook and Google+ are not sticking to their knitting like Twitter is. Last week, Facebook widely expanded the range of information it tracks: read, listen, watch, 5 types of "life events" and more. Meanwhile Google+ has become known as a place for people to discuss common interests. This is all bad news for Twitter.

Twitter used to be seen as competing with Facebook as a social service. But that was a fight Twitter was never going to win. So, wisely, it shifted the focus to being an information network. That strategy has worked up till now, because Twitter has built up a huge store of what the Web 2.0 Map callsInterest Data - defined as "declarations of what people are interested in."

The problem for Twitter is that both Facebook and Google+ have begun to target the information network business too.

Just last week, Facebook opened up its platform to Read, Watch, Listen data. If users of Facebook allow apps such as Spotify (music), Washington Post (news) and Netflix (video) to automatically share data to their Facebook News Feeds, then suddenly there is a lot more Interest Data flowing through Facebook. Also expanded types of status updates (so-called "life events") will add to Facebook's Interest Data store.

No more anonymous 'defriending': New Facebook feature will allow users to know who doesn't like them

With a slew of cosmetic changes and tweaks, Facebook users could be forgiven for getting a little frustrated over the last few days.

But the social network's new Timeline feature looks set to really enrage users after it emerged the ability to anonymously 'defriend' people will become a thing of the past.

Using the new feature, which is set to be rolled out in the near future, users will be able to see all their entire Facebook history - including their shifting friends lists.

Busted: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a keynote during the Facebook f8 Developer Conference at the San Francisco Design Center

Along with every picture, message and app used, Timeline will allow people to see which of your previous 'friends' at somepoint decided to end the relationship.

WHAT IS TIMELINE

The new timeline feature is reminiscent of an online scrapbook, with the most important photos, text, music and video that users have shared or will share on Facebook over the years.


The timeline can go back to include years before Facebook even existed, so users can add photos and events from, say 1995 when they got married or 1970 when they were born.

It is intended to replace the current layout, but critics have said it may alienate some of the 'older' Facebook generation.

The redesigned pages have a more magazine-like photo-heavy feel, with a large 'cover photo' at the top of the page .

On the right of the page there will be a timeline that breaks down all posts from a person's time on Facebook and allows viewers to jump back to people's earliest posts with a break down month-by-month.

For the first time, the site will allow you to add photos and content from before Facebook existed in a new 'Way Back' section.

Zuckerberg said the new profile page had been designed so that, 'you can tell the whole story of your life on a single page'.

Speaking to BuzzFeed, community manager at Mashable Meghan Peters said: 'There is a way where you can go in to a certain point in time and basically, if you look at your friends tab, maybe from three years ago, and you see the ‘Add Friend’ button from someone in that list, that will basically tell you that they have defriended you since you became their friend.

'I think that people will definitely be upset by it.

More...

• More than 4 MILLION people have access to the U.S governments classified information
• Biggest-ever Facebook overhaul wins over users with 'free' films, music and books

'I mean, it always hurts to know that someone isn’t your friend anymore.'

The Facebook is trying to evolve from an Internet hangout where people swing by to share tidbits, links and photos to a homestead decorated with the memories, dreams and diversions of its 800 million users.

In what may be the boldest step yet in the company's seven-year history, Facebook is redesigning its users' profile pages to create what CEO Mark Zuckerberg says is a 'new way to express who you are.'

It is betting that despite early grumblings, its vast audience will become even more attached to a website that keeps pushing the envelope. 

To that effect, it is introducing new ways for people to connect with friends, brands and games while also sharing details about their lives from the mundane to the intimate.

'If you look at Facebook's history, obviously they are not afraid of making change,' said Sean Corcoran, an analyst with Forrester Research.

History: Along with every picture, message and app used, Timeline will allow people to see which of your previous 'friends' at some point decided to end the relationship

'They have done a lot of big changes in the past and people have gotten upset. But most of the time Facebook has been right.'

Zuckerberg introduced the Facebook 'timeline' along with new entertainment and media company partnerships on Thursday in San Francisco, at the annual 'f8' conference attended by about 2,000 entrepreneurs, developers and journalists.

The event was also being broadcast to, at one point, more than 100,000 online viewers.

The changes seek to transform how and how much people share things online, just as Facebook has been doing since its scrappy start as a college-only network.

The overhaul also presents a new challenge for Google Inc., which has been scrambling to catch up with the launch of its own a social network, Google Plus, three months ago.

The timeline, which will eventually replace users' current profile pages, is reminiscent of an online scrapbook filled with the most important photos and text that they have shared on Facebook over the years.

It's where people express their real selves and merge their online and offline lives even more than they are doing now.

United Tech to buy Goodrich for $16.5 billion

United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) has reached a $16.5 billion cash deal to acquire aircraft components maker Goodrich Corp (GR.N), in what would be the diversified U.S. manufacturer's biggest deal in a decade.

United Tech said on Wednesday it would pay $127.50 a share for Goodrich, a 47 percent premium over the stock's closing price last Thursday. It also includes $1.9 billion in assumed debt.

The deal comes as blue-chip United Tech looks to cash in on the upswing in plane orders and production as declining global spending on defense pressures its military business.

The acquisition can help it build critical mass in new aircraft technology and plane services as civil demand rebounds.

Goodrich is poised to grow as key commercial plane programs such as the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and upcoming Airbus A320neo ramp up production.

"It's a good deal," said Virginia-based defense consultant Jim McAleese.

"This is definitely a step forward in the growth of United Technologies in commercial aerospace, and it reduces the company's exposure to defense," he said.

BUCKS M&A SLOWDOWN

The deal comes despite a broad slowdown in merger activity globally, as market volatility and economic uncertainty give many firms a pause.

But it shows large, well-capitalized companies are still willing to take on strategic transactions and financing remains available for companies with good credit.

Within the sector, the deal could also be a harbinger of more M&A as companies look to reduce their dependence on defense amid declining global spending.

Goodrich supplies parts for Hartford, Connecticut-based United Tech's Pratt & Whitney jet engines and Hamilton Sundstrand's aircraft electronics.

The deal is a big move for United Tech Chief Executive Louis Chenevert, who had long said he was interested in doing more deals but was having a hard time coming to terms with targets on price.

"Goodrich delivers on all of our acquisition criteria. It is strategic to our core, has great technology and people, and strengthens our position in growth markets," said Chenevert, who ran the Pratt & Whitney unit before taking on the top job.

The deal is United Tech's largest since its year 2000 showdown with General Electric Co (GE.N) over Honeywell International Inc (HON.N). United Tech made a $36 billion offer for Honeywell, which GE topped. European regulators ultimately scuttled that deal.

Goodrich CEO Marshall Larsen, a 34-year Goodrich veteran, will run the new UTC Aerospace Systems unit, which will be based in Goodrich's current home town of Charlotte, North Carolina.

United Tech plans to sell $4.2 billion in stock and suspend share repurchases through next year to maintain its credit rating, according to the Wall Street Journal, which said JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) is leading a $15 billion loan package for the deal, with HSBC Holdings (HSBA.L) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) also involved in the financing.

United Tech shares have risen some 8 percent over the past year, outpacing the 6 percent rise of the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI. Goodrich is up 52 percent, with more than half of that run coming over the past week.

JPMorgan Chase & Co and Goldman Sachs & Co (GS.N) advised United Tech on the deal, while Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) and Citigroup (C.N) advised Goodrich.

(Reporting by Scott Malone in Boston, Paritosh Bansal in New York and Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington;

Twitter board loses two power players

SAN FRANCISCO (CNNMoney) -- Three behind-the-scenes power players have left Twitter, the latest in a series of departures that are reshaping the micro-messaging site.

Board members Fred Wilson and Bijan Sabet, two of Twitter's earliest investors, are stepping down, the company said Friday. On Thursday, Twitter Chief Scientist Abdur Chowdhury confirmed that he is leaving the company.

"Bijan Sabet and Fred Wilson both played important and greatly appreciated roles in our success," Twitter said in a written statement. "Both saw what Twitter could become before most anyone else. We look forward to their continued input as both investors in the company and passionate users of the product."

Twitter recently completed a massive $800 million funding round, half of which went to cash out part of the holdings of some early investors, including Wilson's firm, Union Square Ventures. USV kept some of its stake in Twitter.

Twitter's $400 million war chest will help the five-year-old company tackle a problem of growing urgency: Building a sustainable business on top of its widely used, free platform. In a "State of the Union" talk last week, CEO Dick Costolo publicized the latest Twitter stats: 100 million active users log in at least once a month.

Costolo took over in October as the company's CEO, assuming the reins from co-founder Evan Williams, who planned to step back and focus on product development. But just a few months later, Williams ceded that role to once-exiled co-founder Jack Dorsey, who now juggles his Twitter duties with his CEO role at payments venture Square.

Williams and Twitter's third co-founder, Biz Stone, have faded away from active involvement at Twitter. In June, they launched a new venture: Obvious Corp., an incubator for companies focused on "building systems that help people work together to improve their lives and the world."